Discovery BoxNumbers 23:10 
Context23:10 Who 1 can count 2 the dust 3 of Jacob,
Or number 4 the fourth part of Israel?
Let me 5 die the death of the upright, 6
and let the end of my life 7 be like theirs.” 8
Numbers 23:13
Context23:13 Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place from which you can observe them. You will see only a part of them, but you will not see all of them. Curse them for me from there.”
Numbers 27:3
Context27:3 “Our father died in the wilderness, although 9 he was not part of 10 the company of those that gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah; but he died for his own sin, 11 and he had no sons.
1 tn The question is again rhetorical; it means no one can count them – they are innumerable.
2 tn The perfect tense can also be classified as a potential nuance. It does not occur very often, but does occur several times.
3 sn The reference in the oracle is back to Gen 13:16, which would not be clear to Balaam. But God had described their growth like the dust of the earth. Here it is part of the description of the vast numbers.
4 tn Heb “and as a number, the fourth part of Israel.” The noun in the MT is not in the construct state, and so it should be taken as an adverbial accusative, forming a parallel with the verb “count.” The second object of the verse then follows, “the fourth part of Israel.” Smr and the LXX have “and who has numbered” (וּמִסְפָּר, umispar), making this colon more parallel to the preceding one. The editor of BHS prefers this reading.
5 tn The use of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) for the subject of the verb stresses the personal nature – me.
6 sn Here the seer’s words link with the promise of Gen 12:3, that whoever blesses Israel will be blessed. Since the blessing belongs to them, the upright (and not Balak), Balaam would like his lot to be with them.
7 tn Heb “my latter end.”
8 tn Heb “his.”
9 tn This clause begins with a vav (ו) on a pronoun, marking it out as a disjunctive vav. In this context it fits best to take it as a circumstantial clause introducing concession.
10 tn Heb “in the midst of.”
11 tn The word order is emphatic: “but in/on account of his own sins he died.”
